Does anyone make either a kit or ready-to-run model of a rail barge? My newest layout plan will need one, and I need one that will fit 7 cars max. I also need it to look strong enough to hold 6 or 7 cars and an engine. My planned engine roster could include an F-M H15/16-44, GP7, Alco S1/2/4, and possibly an HH600 or H10-44 (all readily available at my LTS).
[oops]Cought myself this time, this is HO by the by.[:-^]
And what should I do for a loading/unloading dock? The set up will be on a make-believe island in Lake Superior serviced by either Soo Line or Milwaukee Road, and no plans as of yet for shipping products off the island, just getting supplies on.
While it’s true an engine normally doesn’t go on to the float, there are pics of little Plymouths on floats in New York Harbor. Can’t tell those New Yorkers anything!
Sorta. Most Barges don’t carry engines. Some do. MR had an article last month or the month before about a CP line that used a barge as the connection to a branch and they took the engine (H-16-44 or equivalent, a full size road switcher) on the barge every trip (there has been at least one other article on that operation in the magazines over the last 20+ years).
Normally you would not place a locomotive on the car float. A few exceptions. The CNJ would move the motive power to and from the Bronx frieght terminal in NYC. They did this to service the loco but in latter years to prevent vandalism. There are photos of HH 660 and an SW 1200. These car floats were the large ones holding maybe 18 cars. The loco’s themselves weighed about as much as a loaded frieght car. They had a very strict sequence to load and unload these floats. As soon as I find it I will post again.
In HO the Walther’s stuff is the way to go. They are designed after New York Harbor sites, does anyone know if the same configuration was used in Philadelphia?? I mean the way in which the tracks are laid out on the apron and first part of the car float.
Tip: ANd a great operating conundrum, when you load the barge, do so so that the engine is in the middle of the barge. This should in theory balance the weight. I’ll le you fgure out how to do so though.
Walthers is the way to go, you might be able to get away with shortening it.
There are several makers of marine carfloats over the years, Walthers having the most recent offering and, in my opinion, the finest.
Carfloats were usually on the large side, as it would have been economically infeasible to use small floats, considering the cost involved for the operation. I have a great use for the Walthers float; for transfering new equipment onto the layout and older cars off. This can provide some interesting switching moves and experience with the aprons. I found the plastic rail on the float to be ugly, so I use code 55 rail; it is longer and simpler to install, using a good contact cement. This float is also a great opportunity to learn weathering skills.
The aprons (I have two) in my opinion, needed some detailing, as it was a bit spartan; as well as painting-but that is my elective. To me, making the floats to operate is asking for-no; begging for-a lot of trouble. Set them in a favoured height and forget about it.
Tugs also played a significant role on the harbour scene, as did lighters, freighters, etc. Sylvan makes a great tramp steamer (small freighter) if you have the room, as well as a great looking carfloat tug. Seaport Modelworks also makes a great looking tug, as well as a small barge (scow) in cast resin (I just converted their car ferry into a great-looking [my opinion] derrick lighter. The tugs of both manufacturers are resin kits, and are a new challenge to take on; if you have never build a resin kit, I urge you to take the plunge; they work up to a fine model. I don’t recommend the “Taurus” if you are new to modelmaking. Get some other kits under your belt before tackling these, as they really fall into the “craftsman kit” category. There are some diesel tug kits also; again Walthers offering the tug “Mantis”. I have only steam marine equipment, but steam tugs were used into the sixties.
There is an interesting picture at the rear of Walther’s book of waterfront railroading of an Alco S-1 that hit the drink. I don’t remember if it was at a carfloat or just doing dock duty, but it did evoke a chuckle…
That was when the BEDT or another waterfront railroad went out of business. THat was after most carfloat operations ended because the volume if traffic just wasnlt there to support it. But you should not that none of those locomotives was very heavy.
I would be surprised if this was the only instance of stuff falling into the water because cars were occasionally allowed to roll of the car floats too. A car float is still subject to wave action and the weather isn’t always nice enough to allow car float operstions with no problems. New York Harbor can get pretty rough even with a 15 or 20 mph wind blowing. No amount of bracing, securing and shoring up can gaurantee that a heavy car won’t decide move in any particular direction especially when it has 4 or 5 other cars coupled to it.
I’m currently building the Walthers float. I only had code 83 I stripped from atlas track so I’m using that. The nice thing is the rail actually fits perfectly on to the rail mounts on the float.
It is a large model, 39 inches, but to shorten it would require a lot of careful cutting. Also just leaving one section out would in my opinion make it too short. It would probably then only handle about 5 cars.
Modeling the Hoboken Shore RR at the Maxwell House Coffee plant in Hobken NJ.
Codes 83, 70, 55, and 40 are among the more common sizes of rail available separately feom various suppliers, thus negating the need to strip otherwise expensive track.
It goes through several pages. The second and third “Next Section” pages are out of sequence (still interesting, though,) but the car float returns in section 4.
He goes into some detail about replacing the rails with Code 83.
A buddy combined two kits to create a five-foot-long behemoth. (That’ll be a pain to pick up without spilling cars when loaded.) Next time he plans to make two barges from the parts of three kits.
It is a large model all right. Too large. From what I figured before I would only need a two track barge about 30 inches long to handle the cars I need. My “island” only has 4 or 5 rail served items, and that number would only decrease. The track on the layout would be all code 70, partly to make it easier to do, partly because I figured prototypically the rail road would have looked at the small number rail and decided it would be easier to use all the same rail. I do plan on detialing the rail however according to an article in MR. This includes knocking down the height on the spikes, weathering, and possibly re-spacing the ties. I do believe the CP Slocan Lake layout was mentioned before, well in fact that’s exactly what my layout is based off. The track plan will need to be tweeked somewhat to fit my room though, it’s a tad bigger, the door is all the to the wall not set back a foot or so like on the CP plan, and where the door is placed it stands out into the room about 12 inches so the room isn’t just a rectangular box. I also realize that engines would have to be small and light, hense most of my roster will be switchers paired up with cabooses. I will have a few road switchers in there, like an H15/16, simply to break things up once and a while. That and the H15 is one of my favorites. I will also have to find out how to dock the barge essentially. I was looking at the Bar Mills Raquette Lake Navigation Company kit, but it’s set up for only a single track. I sort of need to have something like a two track barge that has a wye right on the barge.
And now after I’ve looked over everything there is another reason I want to do it this way. Operating opportunety. Now I get to operate like the prototype more so than some layouts because I get to figure out how the empty cars should be placed back onto the barge as part of the operating session. I’m still a little unknowledged about the car-card and way-bay process, but my operating plan sounds like it’s pretty close.</